In this article, Mac user Paul Bissex decides to put an old computer to good use after his Powerbook crashed, and installs FreeBSD and KDE. He discovers that there's a lot to like about KDE, particularly network transparency in Konqueror and other applications, virtual desktops, the Quanta Plus web development tool and the KDE PIM suite. He also identifies some drawbacks to his KDE desktop, and compares it to Mac OS X.

One of the features appearing in the upcoming GCC-3.4 release is so-called precompiled headers, which potentially enable you to build applications at a faster pace. Read the article at DevChannel.

Just as, in the Java world, there are many competing MVC frameworks for JSP development, so many Open Source developers - says LinuxWorld senior editor James Turner - "scratch the same itch." In this week's installment of LinuxWorld's "Point-Counterpoint" series, LinuxWorld editors James Turner and Steve Suehring slug it out over that most contentious of issues: does the Open Source community on occasion shoot itself in the foot? James says it does, constantly; Steve disagrees.

Still in its early stages, Longhorn represents Microsoft's best assessment of how computing will evolve. And although the operating system won't be ready until 2005 at the earliest, Microsoft is already hard at work trying to get outside programmers to write software that will work with it. At the same time, Microsoft moves to address user concerns with new products and strategies due over the coming year.

Moore's Law, as chip manufacturers generally refer to it today, is coming to an end, according to a recent research paper.

It's debut week for Java Desktop System— a product in which Sun Microsystems Inc. has combined Linux, Mozilla, GNOME and StarOffice—creating a credible challenger to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows and Office on the corporate desktop. Read the review at eWEEK and make sure you come back tomorrow as our review of JDS goes online.